


Welcome aboard!

by willsolacepositivity



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: I don't know a lot of w359 tags, Non-shippy - Freeform, Pre-Canon, these will be updated eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:08:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28135197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willsolacepositivity/pseuds/willsolacepositivity
Summary: The first ever time Douglass Eiffel came out of the ice was his first day on the Hephaestus.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Welcome aboard!

Doug Eiffel woke up to the beeping of automatically-terminated cryo and a foul taste in his mouth. The semi-transparent green casing of the pod colored the transport “shuttle’s” ceiling into darker, murkier hues, so when it suddenly snapped back, Eiffel was temporarily stunned by the clean white surfaces.

A slightly robotic, slightly female-sounding voice greeted him. “Hello, Officer Eiffel. Welcome aboard the USS Hephaestus.”

Stretching, he managed out “Heya, Space Siri. And you can call me Doug- I’m pretty lax about the whole protocol thingy.”

“Sorry?” This voice was much less robotic, and sounded so on edge Doug considered making a joke about razors. Instead, he unfastened the last of the restraints that kept him in the cryo pod and- no joke- floated up. 

“Wooo-ooo!” Eiffel managed as he floated upwards. “I mean, I did the training, but I was definitely not prepared for the whole  _ Ender’s Game  _ treatment.” After a few seconds, Eiffel found a handle to grip, and when he had regained some semblance of an idea where up and down were, he finally met the eyes of his judgmental shipmate. 

“Really?” Eiffel didn’t get a good look at her, besides her short, dark, floaty hair, but only because the woman immediately buried her face in her hands upon meeting his gaze. “Cutter promised me a comms specialist and I get-”

“A comms specialist,” interrupted the robotic voice, “and Minkowski, it would do you well to remember that you two are going to be stuck on the ship for the duration for both your shifts, so the last thing we need right now is.” the AI actually scoffed at the end. 

“Um, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m the one wearing the commander’s uniform, and you’re the one whose screens are broken.”

“Wouldn’t withholding my right to show my face until I let you comply be abuse of power?”

“ I can’t abuse shit about you- you’re literally outranked by that loser!” Minkowski gestured.

“Hey!” Doug cut in. “I’m here, you know.” There was a moment of steely silence, then Minkowski pushed off the wall to float closer to the outside of the cryo pod, and held out a hand.

“Commander Renee Minkowski, pleased to meet you.”

“Doug Eiffel, at your service.” grinning, he shook it. 

“Officer Eiffel, I trust you read Pryce and Carter?”

“Price of whatsawhat?” asked the newly dubbed Officer Eiffel. Immediately, he felt Minkowski’s grip on his hand tighten. 

“The required training material? You know-” Minkowski gestured wildly. “Well anyways, you’re going to have to read it now, after I show you around.” And that’s how the rest of the day went- Minkowski took Eiffel, who everyone insisted on calling Officer, around the ship, and the AI girl interjected occasionally to give one of them readings or snark on the Captain. Through it, EIffel learned that there was another member of the crew scheduled to arrive in twelve days- a Russian guy who went by Hilbert or something. Finally, Minkowski led him to the comms room. 

“All right, here’s your office for the next seven hundred days.” Minkowski said, opening up the hatch. Eiffel stepped inside and-

“Damn.” He managed. 

“What?”

“It’s a little scary.”

“What is?” Minkowski asked.

“I just realised I can’t see Earth from here. I can’t see the Sun, either, and these big windows mean I’ll know exactly how far I am from home every day. Seven whole light years.” EIffel expected the Captain to scoff at him again, but she just nodded. 

“Yeah, space gets you like that. Now, I heard in your brief you actually enjoy doing radio stuff, so let’s see how long that lasts.”

“Oh, I’ll be fine, as long as you don’t get into any more arguments with Space Siri.”

“My  _ name  _ is Hera.” Eiffel jumped at the AI’s voice coming in through the speakers. 

“You’re here, too?”

“I’m everywhere, Eiffel.” 

“Okay. Oh-kay” Eiffel took a shaky breath to calm himself. “No privacy at all, apparently. Right. I’ve got to get used to that now. And one more thing, did you say your name is She-ra?”

“ _ Hera.  _ H-E-R-A.” Hera didn’t quite have a face (Eiffel had no idea what the flat screen avatars were, but they weren’t working), but if she did Hera would be rolling her eyes. 

“She’s a bit to get used to.” Minkowski added. “Anyways, enjoy your new toys, Eiffel. I’ve got to go check up on Hilbert,” Minkowski actually gave a little wave, and made her way to the hallway with an ease Eiffel didn’t understand- he could hardly navigate two feet in zero-g without ending up floating in the middle of a random room or upside-down in the stupidest ways. Just another of those things he’d had to get used to. 

Eiffel sighed, and took a small package out of his pocket. It was nothing much-just a few knicknacks he’d brought from Earth. Eiffel placed a  _ Star Wars  _ magnet on the display, gave a few more objects their place, until there was only one thing left. A small, square photo of Doug Eiffel himself, and little Anne. Eiffel was only a few months younger in the photo, but he looked so much happier, even to himself. 

With a sigh, Eiffel taped it to the underside of the comms panel, where no one with Commander  _ I-wanted-a-comms-officer _ ’s creativity could find it. Floating under the metal under-panel of the comms equipment, Eiffel could see that he looked like a mess. It was to be expected after going under the ice, but the old photo made the difference all the more striking. 

“Chin up, dumbass.” Eiffel whispered to himself, and pushed off of the panels to the center of the room. “You can do this. Space dinner’s going to be ready soon.”


End file.
